Route to Market & Supply Chain Blog

When we start the process of distributor selection, we need to be very clear about what we are looking for. A key question is this. What is our ideal Distributor Partner, or Model Distributor, we sometimes call them, and what do they look like?…

I am often asked what is the single most important thing that should be done after selecting a new distributor. Before I answer this question, let me recap the process of distributor selection. The three phases of Distributor Selection are: The…

A little bit of fun this week after the dreary focus on the UK General Election and England performances. Here comes the world's greatest drink sales guy! Summer is here and drinks producers across the globe will be battling for an increased share…

Recently I shared my methodology for the 20 Steps to Route to Market Excellence at the beginning of this blog series. You can read more about it here: The FMCG Leaders Guide to Route to Market Strategy & Execution in 20 Steps. The first step,…

Supply chain complexities are increasing. Shifting customer demands & habits, expanding business, and rising cost pressures are the key drivers for restructuring needs of your distribution networks. Customer demands are shifting rapidly. The share…

Over the last few months, I have shared the proven and successful Enchange approach, to find and develop FMCG Distributor Partners (DPs). We call this the Distributor Partner (DP) Development Programme. It is broken into 8 Modules. In my last post,…

Over the last few months, I have shared the proven and successful Enchange approach, to find and develop FMCG Distributor Partners (DPs). We call this the Distributor Partner (DP) Development Programme. We use this Programme to source new DPs, to…

Our step-by-step approach to drive and develop FMCG distributor performance is an eight-module programme that we call the Distributor Partner (DP) Development Programme. This programme is used for: Strategy: Implement a new FMCG company approach to…

As a general rule, buildings are usually numbered in a structured, sequential way. Numbering usually commences with building 1 at the end of the road which is closest to the city or town centre. Odd numbers on the left and even numbers on the right…

I recently started a blog series on indirect distribution by sharing our step-by-step approach to drive and develop distributor performance. We call this the Distributor Partner (DP) Development Programme. I have previously shared the first three…

In my last post we discussed the biggest challenges that a Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) company could face when managing the ‘last mile’ of the Route to Market (RtM). Once we have examined the challenges and the pitfalls in managing distributors or…

If you ask any sports person who has played a contact sport, how to avoid getting hurt, very often you will be told to try your best not to get hit. In order to avoid the hits, you need to understand more about them including when they are likely to…

Is it just me or does FMCG life seems to be increasingly full of initials? New examples seem to pop up on a weekly basis with COVID-19 being top of mind currently. In line with many business functions Supply Chain and other functions use multiple…

I am going to continue with some sporting analogies, as I did in my last blog, Route to Market Roles and Avoiding Square Pegs in Round Holes. There are many common areas across many sports, but there is at least one specific area of sport that…

Assessing your distribution options is one of the most important elements of any Route to Market strategy. Choosing the wrong distribution strategy, although often not evident in the short term, can cripple a company’s long-term growth, and ability…